Football and Ballet - Jason Collins Page 0,60
you wanted to go out for dinner together.”
“Go out for dinner? Are you crazy?” Elana scoffed. “Do you know how many calls I need to make? How many meetings I need to set up? If you’re off the bench, that means we need to get the ball rolling right now. You’re never worth more than when people are rooting for your comeback.” Elana then looked down at me as a smile spread across her face. “Hunter Perry, get ready for the ride of your fucking life.”
And with that, my sister hastily left my home, without saying a single word of goodbye.
“Since when do you have a dance studio?” Dakota asked with a smirk on her face. “I didn’t see this on the home layout your sister sent over a week ago.”
Dakota was leaning in the doorway of the dance studio, her heels bright against its marble floor. I was puzzled by her presence, confused as to why she’d suddenly shown up at my house despite the lack of an invitation and the lack of a house key.
“It’s not finished yet,” I replied, still perplexed by her existence in the doorway. “How did you—”
Dakota answered my question by holding up a golden key. “Your sister sent this over to me with the house layout. She thought it was weird that I didn’t have a key to your place, even though we’re not really… you know.”
“If we’re not really dating, then why would you need a key to my place?”
“It’s just for show.” Dakota shrugged. “Besides, nothing sells us better as a couple then random pop-ups at each other’s houses. Anything less would be pretty damn suspicious, wouldn’t it?”
“Sure. I guess…” My words trailed off before I murmured over at her. “So, what brings you over?”
“I just wanted to go over a few things with you,” Dakota replied as she walked closer. “Do you mind if we sit down, though? Or would that be too weird without any chairs?”
“We can sit.” I nodded and began to lower myself to the ground.
Dakota joined me in the motion, following my lead until we were sitting cross-legged in front of one another.
“First of all, Hunter, I just wanted to say…” Dakota took in a deep breath before she went on, “…that being with you has been the most incredible experience of my life.”
“But we haven’t really been together, Dakota.”
“I know.” She beamed. “But even just being your fake girlfriend has been amazing. I’ve never gotten so much engagement on my social media profiles, like, ever. And since you’re rehabbing your image as America’s Sweetheart that makes me America’s Sweetheart, too. Which reminds me—” Dakota held up a finger as she pulled out her phone. “Guess who got offered a nationwide candy campaign?”
“You?” My voice was warm. I was happy for her even though I didn’t share in her excitement.
“No, silly. Us.” She beamed again. “And guess who got offered a campaign for a luxury hotel brand, too?”
“Us?”
“Bingo.” Dakota chuckled. “It’s like people can’t get enough of us together, Hunter.”
Dakota then put down her phone as a serious look crossed her face. “Hunter, can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything, Dakota.”
“That girl you were seeing…” Dakota bit her bottom lip. “Are you two still seeing each other?”
“No,” I admitted, even as the reality of the situation slightly burned my throat.
“Okay. Good.” Dakota let out a sigh of relief. “Because I wanted to ask you if you’d marry me.”
“What?” I blinked a few times in disbelief. “I’m sorry? Dakota, did you just ask me to marry you?”
“Well, technically, you’d be the one asking me to marry you,” she corrected.
“Are you asking me to propose to you?”
“Hunter, do you have any idea how many endorsement deals we’d get if we got married?” she asked. “My agent told me that there’s a jewelry company that’d be willing to not only give us their engagement rings for free, but they’d also give us an extra five million dollar endorsement bonus if we say we got our rings from their company on national TV.”
“Five million dollars? Just for a name drop?”
“A name drop during the playoffs, yes,” she went on. “But only if you win. If you lose, they only want us to mention the company in interviews and puff pieces.”
“Wait. Are you suggesting that I propose to you during the playoffs?” I asked for clarity’s sake. “Dakota, that’s in like a week.”
“I know. Which is why I wanted to clear everything with you first.” Dakota nodded along with